intux.net

Let me start with NO soap, NO detergent, NO dishwashers, nada, nyet, nicht, nader, none…

The proper and ONLY way to effectively clean your iron cooking ware, (without ruining its seasoning), is with hot water and a a good stiff bristle brush. If you have some stubborn residue, simply put it back on the coals, (or burner), and let the hot water loosen things up.

After a good scrub down, then rinsing with more hot water, I like to heat the iron back up to make certain ALL of the water is gone, then treat it with a quick wipe down of cooking oil with a paper towel or two, or hit it with some cooking spray like Pam (don’t inhale the steam) and spreading that evenly with a paper towel. By removing all of the water and treating it with a little oil, you will retain/enhance your seasoning and your dutch oven, wok, frying pan, etc., will be ready to go next time.

I own one of these scrubbers:

Lodge Cast Iron Scrubber

It only gets used when I have run into the real stubborn food particles stuck to the iron, and find myself “boiling it loose” – but these days that doesn’t happen often unless I burn something.  Generally I am able to just use a little hand brush and plenty of elbow grease to get the job done.

WARNING!  NEVER put anything cold in a hot piece of cast iron cookware. Sooner or later you will crack it.

There isn’t a lot that can be cooked in a kitchen oven that cannot be cooked in a camp dutch oven, but the latter does offer some considerations beyond shuffling the number of coals placed on the bottom/top, rotating the lid, etc.

One of the handiest little accessories is called the “Trivet”.

Lodge Logic Trivet

This is a handy device to help you prevent scorching the bottom of breads, pies, and other “baked” items which you will place in a second container then introduce into the dutch oven for baking.

“Never pick up anything hot, until you have a place to set it back down”…. Some of the best cooking advice that can be given, especially true for any kind of outdoor cooking!

Dutch ovens are heavy – even their lids. DOH!

We have a mess of ovens, one of each size, so they are “stackable”.  One of the really fun things to try is to take advantage of the heat from the coals on the lid of the larger bottom oven to provide for cooking a side dish in a smaller size set over them with coals added to its lid in turn.  Some folks try this stacking technique with up to 4 or 5 ovens – but anything over 3 takes entirely too much preplanning and forethought for me to enjoy the experience.

Other than the pots themselves and a suitable place to cook – there are several accessories I like to keep handy:

Number one involves long-handled tongs to enable moving coals around one by one.

I have a pair of dutch oven lid lifters that are pretty essential.  You can get away with using a set of vice grips or some such, but you can beat the lid lifters designed for the specific purpose of lifting or rotating a hot lid.

Dutch oven lid lifter and stand

The lid stands aren’t “essential” but sure come in handy when looking to set a hot lid somewhere other than back on the oven.

A good pair of heat resistant gloves are essential – you can buy the “specialty gloves” sold for the purpose, OR you can be cheap like me and pick up a good pair of welder gloves that also cover your forearms.

A good (automobile style) straw whisk broom to handle brushing ashes away to help keep them out of your food and for general cleanup.

I like having a small, flat-bladed hand shovel available for getting rid of hot coals – an old galvanized bucket with a handle is a great container for them.

A set of long handled metal utensils, (mixing spoons, a good ladle, etc.).

One item that most younger folks can do without is a cooking table. At this end of life, I no longer bend/squat as easily and have found one of these add immensely to the pleasure of outdoor cooking, especially with the dutch ovens.

Cooking table and tote bag

Yes, the table is heavy metal construction, but once set up just as handy as it can be.  You can light a pile of coals right on it, then move them around with your tongs for actual use.  The ability to shield those ashes from the wind sure helps to keep them out of your food! With the addition of a small grill grate (one that has “feet on it”) I can readily spread coals on the bottom and use it as a grill while cooking something else in a dutch oven or two.  After cooking, I simply swing out the left “wing” and use the shovel/whisk broom/bucket to get rid of the coals/ashes

I’ll wind up this post with an item I have used extensively over the past few years and will NOT go camping without.  That is my propane Big Kahuna burner:

Big Kahuna burner

The one in the image isn’t mine, (to begin with I use a cast iron wok and *love* it), but it presents the burner well.  I have used all of my dutch ovens as simple pots on this to prepare side-dishes, chili, beans, and so forth. Its like having a single-burner stove-top right along with you that can be used outdoors while camping or simply out on your patio.  I have used it to heat up a mess of stew while baking biscuits in a dutch oven on the cooking table.  This is one device I love almost as much as the dutch ovens themselves.

There are dutch ovens intended for both indoor and outdoor use.  Those used indoors have smooth bottoms with a (normally) rounded cover/lid. Depending upon what you are cooking, they are equally at home on the stove top or in the oven. I have only one of these, intended for use in the oven of our 5th wheel trailer while camping in adverse weather.

The dutch ovens intended for outdoor use are easily recognized by two features.  Their bottoms have 3 or 4 “feet” like little iron posts intended to hold them up over burning coals rather than setting right down on top of them, (which would block air flow and quench them quite rapidly). Their lids have a “lip” around the outer edge, designed to keep coals placed on top of them from falling off. These outdoor ovens are now commonly referred to as “Camp Dutch Ovens”.

Dutch ovens can be purchased at flea markets/swap meets, at second hand stores, I even picked up a couple at an Army/Navy Surplus Store. Some of the larger Sporting Goods stores carry them – and they can even be found at Walmart, (along with just about everything else you can think of).  They will either come “unseasoned”, or “pre-seasoned”. A ton of information on “seasoning your iron ware” has been made available on the Internet, so I will not address that topic – google is your friend.

It simply does not cost an arm and a leg to get started cooking with dutch ovens – and a properly seasoned dutch oven will get the job done regardless of source. Properly cared for, rather than wearing out they wear “in” and cooking with them just gets better.

In my (not-so-humble) opinion, the best dutch oven a reasonable amount of money can buy at present will come from Lodge Manufacturing – (Hint, you can save a lot of money by purchasing them elsewhere than that web site unless it is a special or sale item – I use Amazon.com because I have an Amazon “Prime” account and get free 2-day shipping). The “best of the best” has been sold under the name “Lodge Logic” for quite a spell – but the bottom line is that indicates the oven you are buying has been pre-seasoned with their own secret process.  I have no idea how they do it – but a pre-seasoned Lodge dutch oven is absolutely ready to go when you received it.  Just a minor washing – heat it thoroughly – start cooking. Whatever they are doing, it is simply RIGHT. A pre-seasoned piece of Lodge iron cookware is far superior to anything I have been able to achieve personally – and given that quality it is far easier to KEEP it properly seasoned.  Just my opinion, but based upon my own personal experience so it is an “informed opinion”.  Having said all of that – not all of my own iron ware is Lodge Logic – I just wish it was.  -=dave=-

Earlier in this blog, I have mentioned my passion for cooking outdoors several times, and have been thinking of adding some notes about that rewarding pastime, especially with dutch ovens, for a couple of months now. Today, I received a reminder from one of my cousins in Texas in the form of an eMail containing a link to a relatively new blog called “Dutch Oven Madness“.  The author is a stay at home Mom, (wow, 7 children), who will spend 2010 cooking something each day in her dutch ovens – blogging the recipe, the results, and any lessons learned.  I think it is a great idea, and may lead to a book.  Stephanie O’Dae followed a similar path – blogging each day on her “A Year of Slow Cooking” project and wound up authoring the hugely successful “Make It Fast, Cook It Slow” cookbook. (I own one of the earliest copies sold on Amazon.com).  Personally, I hope Toni has something similar in mind for her blog and wish her all the success she can have. (7 children… Wow!).

One of these days I’m going to convince my cousin to write her own cookbook. Now THERE is one I would love to buy!

Please understand, I have no such aspirations for this blog. This one is more about getting some thoughts down about the stuff I like to cook, (primarily CHILI), and has expanded into outdoor cooking where good Chili began. In expanding into the areas of smoking meat and now dutch oven cooking, I’m going to eventually have to re-think the organization of the categories here – but that can wait a spell. The first thing is simply to get some thoughts down to share with my family.  You are more than welcome to peek over my shoulder.